the_facebook_connectionfandomcom-20200214-history
24/7 Connection and Defining the User
Johnathan Crary and the 24/7 World 24/7 Johnathan Crary explains that there are attempts from several groups, including governmental ones out to discover ways to enable people to go without sleep and to function productively and effectively (2). He mentions the US military quite often as the pioneers of new discoveries allowing us to control how much sleep the body needs. Crary elaborates that any position that characterize people as having no agency are frowned upon (23). This makes sense because when we boil it down, sleep essentially limits the things us as humans can do in life. We cannot work tirelessly on papers, work at jobs for the most part that are restricted to regular business hours. The world as whole works constantly. It might be 2AM in Eastern Canada but in Europe others are getting up to start their day at work, or have already started their shift. Our world is tireless and continues spinning, therefore when part of the world is asleep, it misses out on many happenings and loses the ability to participate in discussions as it happens. Crary describes another disturbing reality which is the lack of security when humans sleep (27). Relating to the fact human are powerless in their sleep, he mentions a leak from a toxic gas tank that killed tens of thousand residents nearby and many more in the months that followed. And many of these died in their sleep without knowledge of the incident (28). The world doesn't stop when one of us goes to sleep, and that is the trouble many organizations seek to reconcile with Facebook 24/7 Connection As a global social network connecting billions of users from around the world in a diversity of languages, Facebook is integral to the social makeup of our world and therefore is just as restless as our actual world, and in fact it is a window into what goes on while we sleep. News stories are shared, commented on, and while we may not be privy to be able to be included in the discussions as they happen, they are view-able by us when we awake to catch up on. Facebook links the world together, people stay in touch with loved ones and acquaintances from around the world and their lives continue on Facebook and in their country long after you have checked out for bed. Defining the User Ehrenberg wrote an article about research that had been done on defining a Facebook user through their likes. In relation to connectivity, Facebook allows us to connect with others based on our shared likes and engage is like minded discussion. It is only natural people with the same mindset are attracted to like the same subjects and personalities, leading to the belief that a Facebook like CAN define someone. The research Ehrenberg looked into took volunteers ranging at about 58,000 strong who used an app that tracked their likes and their personality as well. Results included ESPN and Dos Equis as tell tale signs of a male profile and TV Fanatic and ShoeDazzle as tell tale signs of a female profile. The concept behind having people connected by mutual likes further reinforces the idea about how Facebook connects one person to another, whether it's 1AM or 1PM. Sources # Ehrenberg, Rachel. “What a Facebook 'like' Reveals.” Science News, vol. 183, no. 8, 2013, pp. 14–14. www.jstor.org/stable/23599035. # Jonathan Crary 24/7